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: : Why do you
need a back up email address? : :
: : Understanding
Mail Delivery Errors : :
: : Guidelines
For Effective Email Communication : :
Why do you need a back
up email address?
If you have one email address to send and receive email, we
advise you to add an email as a back up address in case something
went wrong with your primary email address.
There are so many factors that can affect your regular email
system with your ISP such as Spam attacks, overwhelming traffic,
human error, server down etc. These periods of more or less
hastened activity at your ISP may last only for minutes, but
they can extend to several days. Whatever the longevity of
the outage, in any case you can usually neither send nor receive
any email.
This is where you, equipped with your free Web-based account,
can step in. The web based email provider are such as www.yahoo.com,
www.hotmail.com,
www.incredimail.com
and many more.
If you would notice, at Digitizing Factory we have set up
three accounts with three different ISPs. They are digitize@digitizingfactory.co.th,
digifac@ksc.th.com
and digitize@digitizingfactory.com
If you send one particular order to the three addresses, even
if one ISP is not working, we can always receive thru the
other two. So your orders are not going to be missed.
So in your case, if you have two email addresses, when we
send you the confirmation or order delivery, you will always
receive them even though one of your ISPs is down.
Setting up your account with yahoo, hotmail, incredimail etc
is easy and it is free. You do not have to pay anything. You
may not need to check your web-based email regularly. Two
times a week would be enough, but it's nice knowing that you
have a backup just in case something happens to your regular
email system.
Understanding Mail
Delivery Errors
If you send an e-mail that for some reason can't be delivered,
either your ISP or the mail server where the error occurred
sends a mail delivery error report back to you. Some of these
error reports are pretty cryptic, so you may be wondering
why your email bounces back and what the delivery error report
means.
Let's look at some of the most common mail delivery error
reports and try to decipher what they mean.
Almost all mail delivery error reports begin with something
like the following:
----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----
<JDOE@ReceiverISP.COM>
That tells you that your mail to the specified address could
not be delivered. It may also tell you whether the error is
a "permanent fatal error" (one which makes it impossible to
deliver the message) or a "transient non-fatal error" (just
a temporary setback, and the mail server will keep trying).
A more complete description of the problem is usually next,
in a section labeled "Transcript of session follows". Below
are the more common ones, each followed by an explanation.
These are taken from actual delivery error reports, but the
usernames have all been changed to "jdoe" to protect the privacy
of the actual addressee.
The examples below are all mail delivery error reports generated
by Sendmail, the predominant mail server software on the Internet.
Error reports generated by other mail server software (QMail,
Postfix, Microsoft Exchange, or whatever) may look different,
but will contain the same basic information.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
User Unknown
Host Unknown
Mail Quota Exceeded
Message Exceeds
Maximum Size
Delivery Deferred,
Will Keep Trying
Message Could
Not Be Delivered For 5 Days
Sender Domain
Not Found
Possible Virus
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
User Unknown
----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----
<JDOE@ReceiverISP.COM>
(reason: 550 5.1.1 <SBEMIS1@ReceiverISP.COM>... User
unknown)
----- Transcript of session follows -----
... while talking to mx-rr.ReceiverISP.com.:
>>> RCPT To:<JDOE@ReceiverISP.COM>
<<< 550 5.1.1 <JDOE@ReceiverISP.COM>... User unknown
550 5.1.1 <JDOE@ReceiverISP.COM>... User unknown
Instead of "user unknown", you might see "unknown user", "invalid
recipient", "not a valid user", "mailbox unavailable", "not
known here" or something else expressing the same idea.
In this example one mail server tried to deliver the message
to the mail server at home.com, but the home.com mail server
refused to accept it because they have no user known as "jdoe".
This could be because the username part of the address (jdoe)
was typed incorrectly, or because the "jdoe" account at home.com
expired or was cancelled, or because you were trying to reply
to a message sent out under a falsified address. In rare cases
it can indicate a mail system failure at the remote site.
What you should do:
Confirm the intended recipient's address, if possible. Resend
your message to the corrected address.
Back
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Host Unknown
----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----
<JDOE@ReceiverISP.NET>
----- Transcript of session follows -----
550 5.1.2 <JDOE@ReceiverISP.NET>... Host unknown (Name
server:
mail.ReceiverISP.net.: host not found)
This means that the mail server was not able to locate the
mail server for switchgrass.net (mail.switchgrass.net) in
the Internet's domain name service (DNS). If the target system
can't be found in the DNS, then our mail server can't connect
to the remote mail server to deliver your message.
Most "host unknown" errors are caused by a typo in the domain
name part of the intended recipient's address, but an increasing
number of "host unknown" errors are the result of trying to
reply to junk mail (spam). This is because the "From:" address
on junk mail is almost always bogus. Where the address is
typed correctly and is a real one, the problem is usually
a temporary failure in DNS.
What you should do:
Confirm the intended recipient's address, if possible. Resend
your message to the corrected address.
Back
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mail Quota Exceeded
----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----
<JDOE@ReceiverISP.COM>
----- Transcript of session follows -----
... while talking to c.mx.ReceiverISP.com.:
>>> RCPT To:<JDOE@ReceiverISP.COM>
<<< 552 <JDOE@ReceiverISP.COM>... Mail quota
exceeded
554 <JDOE@ReceiverISP.COM>... Service unavailable
Many systems impose a quota on the amount of disk space each
user's mail box may use. If a user on such a system exceeds
his quota the mail system refuses to accept any more mail
for him.
What you should do:
Give the intended recipient time to clean out his/her mailbox,
then resend your message.
Back
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Message Exceeds Maximum Size
----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----
<JDOE@ReceiverISP.COM>
(reason: 552 5.2.3 <JDOE@ReceiverISP.NET>... Message
size exceeds fixed
maximum message size (80000))
----- Transcript of session follows -----
... while talking to response.ReceiverISP.com.:
>>> MAIL From:<JDOE@ReceiverISP.NET> SIZE=222751
<<< 552 5.2.3 <JDOE@ReceiverISP.NET>... Message
size exceeds fixed maximum message size (80000)
554 5.0.0 <JDOE@ReceiverISP.COM>... Service unavailable
On many systems the mail server is configured to reject large
messages. In the past this was usually done to conserve disk
space on the mail server. These days, with an increasing number
of maturity-challenged Internet users thinking it is "kewl"
to clog up other people's mailboxes with huge junk file attachments,
it is often used to prevent users' mailboxes from overflowing
their quotas due to stupid childish pranks.
The number in parentheses (80000 in this example) is not always
present, but if it is it shows the per-message size limit
imposed by the remote mail system, expressed in bytes.
What you should do:
The only solution is to shorten the message and try again.
In many cases this means deleting the multi-megabyte file
attachment you're trying to send to someone who probably doesn't
want it anyway.
Back
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Delivery Deferred, Will Keep Trying
**********************************************
** THIS IS A WARNING MESSAGE ONLY **
** YOU DO NOT NEED TO RESEND YOUR MESSAGE **
**********************************************
----- The following addresses had transient non-fatal errors
-----
<JDOE@ReceiverISP.COM>
----- Transcript of session follows -----
<JDOE@ReceiverISP.COM>... Deferred: Connection refused
by ReceiverISP.com.
Warning: message still undelivered after 4 hours
Will keep trying until message is 5 days old
If you see a banner similar to this at the top of a mail delivery
error report, it means delivery of your message failed due
to a transient (temporary) error. The actual error could be
any of a number of things.
What you should do:
Do nothing! The banner means EXACTLY what it says: you DO
NOT need to resend your message. The mail system will keep
trying once per hour until delivery succeeds or until five
days elapse, which ever happens first. If after five days
the message still can't be delivered, you'll get another error
message like the following example.
Back
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Message Could Not Be Delivered For Five Days
----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----
<JDOE@ReceiverISP.COM>
----- Transcript of session follows -----
<JDOE@ReceiverISP.COM>... Deferred: Connection refused
by ReceiverISP.com.
Message could not be delivered for 5 days
Message will be deleted from queue
The mail server kept trying once an hour for five days but
was still unable to deliver the message, so it gave up trying.
What you should do:
Write a letter, make a phone call, send a FAX. You can resend
your e-mail if you want to, but if the intended recipient's
mail server couldn't be reached for five days on the first
attempt, it probably won't be reachable on the second attempt.
Back
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sender Domain Not Found
----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----
<JDOE@ReceiverISP.COM>
----- Transcript of session follows -----
... while talking to b.mx.ReceiverISP.com.:
>>>MAIL From:<JDOE@SenderIPS.NET>
<<<550 <JDOE@SenderIPS.NET>... Sender domain
not found in DNS
550 <JDOE@ReceiverISP.COM>... Service unavailable
In an attempt to stem the flow of spam e-mail into their systems,
many mail systems reject messages where the domain name part
of the sender's address (the part after the "@") cannot be
found in the DNS. This is effective against some spam because
spammers often send out their mass mailings under phony addresses.
However it also turns away messages from legitimate senders
whose e-mail addresses are incorrectly entered in their mail
programs. In the example above SenderISP.NET customer "jdoe"
tried to send a message to jdoe@ReceiverISP.com. However,
SenderISP.NET John Doe mistyped the domain name part of his
address as "SenderIPS.NET" instead of "SenderISP.NET" when
he set up his mail program. The ReceiverISP mail system couldn't
find a domain called "SenderIPS.NET" in the DNS, so it rejected
the message.
What you should do:
Go into your mail program's setup and make sure your e-mail
address is entered correctly, and then resend your message.
Back
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Possible Virus
----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----
<JDOE@ReceiverISP.NET>
(reason: 553 5.0.0 Possible virus, see
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.sircam.worm@mm.html)
----- Transcript of session follows -----
... while talking to ndmls01.ReceiverISP.net.:
>>>DATA
<<<553 5.0.0 Possible virus, see
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.sircam.worm@mm.html
554 5.0.0 <JDOE@ReceiverISP.NET>... Service unavailable
Some mail systems filter out messages that seem to contain
viruses. If you receive a delivery error message similar to
the one above, it may mean your PC has a virus infection and
may be sending out virus-infected e-mail.
What you should do:
Check your computer for virus infections, and remove any that
are found. recommends All PCs with Internet connections should
have anti-virus software installed. If you already have anti-virus
software, make sure you know how to use it, make sure it is
configured to scan files as they are downloaded, and make
sure you keep its virus description database up to date.
Back
Guidelines For Effective
Email Communication:
Email is the most popular Internet application. Over 400 million
email boxes exist worldwide. 84 per cent of Internet users
use email.
A recent report estimated that over 7 trillion emails were
sent worldwide last year! Spam messages are jamming in-boxes
across the globe and the average office worker now gets between
60-200 messages a day.
So, with that background, it makes sense that you need to
use email effectively, not only to save you time but also
to ensure that your messages get read by your audience correctly.
The lack of visual, auditory or physical cues can lead to
miscommunication, and as people perceive email as being more
like speech than writing there is a greater potential for
communication breakdown.
Email is also seen as not being very suitable for conveying
very complex information or information that could be misinterpreted.
Meaning can be lost when emails are:
Too brief or abbreviated
Too longwinded
Miscommunication can happen when the sender makes incorrect
or inappropriate assumptions, i.e. when the email refers to
previous email history that has not been forwarded on or to
a conversation that has not directly been referred to.
The following are hints on what to do and what not to do when
using e-mail.
BE CONCISE
E-mail is meant to be one of the quickest ways to communicate.
It is much more informal than a letter or even phone call.
Some people receive hundreds of e-mails a day, so keep e-mail
short and to the point. But be aware -rushed messages
can lead to bad grammar and miscommunication. Consider
using bulleted points to clearly express your thoughts. You'll
save time and your reader will appreciate it. Investing extra
time while authoring an email pays big dividends by giving
your reader a clear understanding of your message.
Useful Subject Lines
A subject line that pertains clearly to the email body will
help people mentally shift to the proper context before they
read your message. The subject line should be brief , does
not need to be a complete sentence, and should give a clue
to the contents of the message.
USE THREADS
Threads are a series of responses to an original message.
When responding to a message, pursue the thread by replying
to the messages instead of starting an entirely new message.
Keeping the thread information together makes it easier for
the participants to follow the chain of information that has
been exchanged. This is most appreciated when responding to
a newsgroup or a list serve, which may have multiple discussions
occurring simultaneously.
Practice the 24-hour rule when you're upset
It's never a good idea to send an email when you're angry.
We've all been guilty of this. In the heat of the moment we
type up a literary bombast. If you compose an email in anger,
wait a predetermined period of time before sending it. If
your emotions are legit, then your issue will still be there
tomorrow. But in 95% of the cases, you'll be glad you waited
and toned things down after you've gain the perspective that
can only come with some additional time.
Answer your email quickly
Recent surveys have shown that a large percentage of email
messages either go unanswered or are not responded to timely.
Take advantage of this inherent competitive edge you can get.
What do you think when someone doesn't respond to your phone
messages? It's no different with email.
Attachments
If you are planning to send the attachment, make sure that
it is the correct one that corresponds to the email message
that you are sending. Wrong attachment leads to wrong understanding.
Use proper naming conventions and file extensions to identify
your documents. Within your e-mail messages, clearly specify
that there is an attachment with its proper file name, application
software version, content description and size of the attached
file so the recipient can make an immediate judgment as to
what will be required to view the file.
Thanks for reading!
Digitizing Factory Team
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